A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge or hill, which is bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and stands distinctly above a surrounding plain. Mesas characteristically consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks capped by a more resistant layer or layers of harder rock, e.g. shales overlain by sandstones. The resistant layer acts as a caprock that forms the flat summit of a mesa. The caprock can consist of either sedimentary rocks such as sandstone and limestone; dissected lava flows; or a deeply eroded duricrust. Unlike plateau, whose usage does not imply horizontal layers of bedrock, e.g. Tibetan Plateau, the term mesa applies exclusively to the landforms built of flat-lying strata. Instead, flat-topped plateaus are specifically known as tablelands.
Luhuo County belongs to Ganzi Prefecture, Sichuan Province, which is located in the north-central part of Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, bordered by Daofu County in the east, Ganzi County in the northwest, Xinlong County in the southwest, Seda County in the north, and Rangtang and Jinchuan counties in Aba Prefecture in the northeast. Sichuan-Tibet 317 line runs through the whole territory from southeast to northwest, which is the main thoroughfare to Tibet and the important town of the ancient tea-horse road. Luhuo County is the center of Kangbei, an important place for traffic. It belongs to semi-agricultural and semi-pastoral areas. In 2011, Luhuo County has an area of 5796.64 square kilometers and has jurisdiction over 16 townships and 171villagers' groups, with a total population of 45960 at the end of the year. In 2011, Luhuo County achieved a GDP of 359 million yuan. The investment in social fixed assets is 377 million yuan, the general budget income of local finance is 13.4 million yuan, and the per capita net income of farmers and herdsmen is 3.